Strange (and Lang)'s Magic Show
by sudoku
Summary: Tony asked Stephen to perform magic at a kid's birthday party. Stephen knew next to nothing about performing but he needed the money so he enlisted Scott's help.


-Unbetaed and non-native speakers so please kindly point out any mistakes  
-This started as a prompt I wrote on Tumblr but somehow I end up writing it myself *facepalm*

* * *

Stephen stepped through the amber portal. His only thought was bed. There was green, orange, and purple goo (don't ask) all over his hair, face, and robe. His plan was to sleep until the next century but with his luck he'd settle for seven hours.

The Cloak half-dragged (actually it was more like 90%-dragged but he needed his dignity) him to bed. Once he settled on his bed, he faced his bedside table and saw that his StarkPhone was blinking which meant there was at least a message. Against his better judgement, he pressed play.

Friday started reading his messages (Tony gave him the latest StarkPhone and installed Friday on it. He insisted that StarkPhone could do 500 times better what Siri could).

"You have 278 messages."

"8.25 am Doc, there is an emergency. I need you to come to my tower ASAP. It's related to Peter."

"9.02 am I can't believe you haven't responded to me yet. Do you know that it's actually my bed time? It's a crime to be awake at this time."

"9.17 am Peter will be so disappointed if you don't come. So will I."

"9.42 am I hope you're having an emergency in another dimension. I'll be so pissed if you just choose to ignore my message."

"9.43 am You're not angry at me after our last meeting, are you?"

"9.44 am Why do you need to be so proud? It's not charity. Helping yourself means helping people in this dimension as well. "

"9.45 am I'm so sorry. I know that you don't need any help. Just please come here."

"9.46 am Even if you're angry, please come here. I don't usually apologize."

"9.47 am Please don't be dead or worse. Don't give me a heart attack."

"9.58 am I asked Wong and he said you were not in this dimension since yesterday. I want to say stay safe but I guess it's a moot point since you didn't bring your phone. I need to make a phone can traverse dimensions. Do you think my Stark Network will sell in other dimensions?"

Stephen sighed. He was still dead tired but he didn't think he could sleep anymore.

"Friday, could you fast forward to the last three messages?"

"I could. Skipping 265 messages!"

"11.35 pm You should be back five hours ago. Please call me ASAP."

"1.05 am Don't be dead."

"1.07 am I'll try to be less sarcastic for one hour if you come back unharmed."

Stephen glanced at the clock. The last message was twenty minutes ago. He shrugged. Well, he'd like to see Tony try not to be sarcastic for one hour. Even if he actually just wanted to sleep, it might be worth it.

"Friday, please tell Tony I'll be there in two minutes."

"OK, Doc. I believe he is in his workshop."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Tony didn't like him to just randomly open a portal in his Tower without any announcement. He wasn't kidding about heart attacks. So Tony and he made an agreement that he would at least give Tony two minutes window.

He used a spell to clean the goo from his body. He was going to pay the price to use magic for that but it beat being Tony's laughing stock.

He looked at his clock. When two minutes arrived, he opened a portal directly to Tony's workshop.

Tony looked up from his soldering. "Ah, you're alive."

Stephen smirked. "It's as if you cared."

"I do ca-. You know what. Peter will be so disappointed in you."

He forgot that Tony mentioned about Peter. He blamed it on his fatigue. "What's wrong with him?"

"Ned's little sister is going to have a birthday party tomorrow. The magician they hired cancelled at the last minute. Ned's parents said he'd forfeit his contract but he didn't care."

Stephen drew deep breaths and counted to twenty. "Are you saying the emergency is for a kid's birthday party? So Peter is not sick or dying?"

Tony looked surprised. "No. What made think that?"

"You and I need to have a serious discussion about what counts as an emergency."

"Does it mean you're not going to do it?"

"No."

"Think about the happy kids."

"I think they can hire someone else more suitable. I'm the Sorcerer Supreme, not a performing magician."

"Peter and Ned are going to be disappointed."

"My inability to entertain the kids will disappoint them more."

"How hard making balloon animals can be? I'll pay $5000 up front today and $5000 after the party. It's only two hours. If you bring one or more assistants, they will each get $5000 as well."

Stephen imagined the 10 grands would tide him and Wong for at least six months (He lived cheap nowadays). He didn't need to do any more odd jobs for at least six months so he could focus on being Sorcerer Supreme. "I really don't want to disappoint Peter and Ned."

Tony grinned so widely. "Of course. Friday will tell you the time and address."

"If there is no more emergency, I'd like to go crash for 10 hours. Just hope there is no more interdimensional threats between now and the party." Stephen started to open a portal. Once he stepped into his bedroom, he winked at Tony. "Remember your promise not to be sarcastic for one hour. I'll choose the time and let you know."

The billionaire groaned. "Of course, you'd remember that. Fine, a promise is a promise."

As soon as the portal closed, Stephen collapsed into his bed. He knew next to nothing about performing magic at children's parties.

He tried to think about who he could help him. Wong definitely would laugh and say no. Other masters at Kamar-Taj would most likely do the same. It was as if in this whole "cult", he was the only one who lived in real world and knew the importance of money.

Thinking about money, he suddenly remembered someone who needed money as much as him. That guy also knew plenty of magic tricks. With that in mind, he started to relax and drifted to sleep one minute later.

* * *

 **Notes:**

-I need to do more research on Scott first so I can write him properly  
-Please tell me what you think.


End file.
